


undercover

by foodpoisoning



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Afab Reno, Cis Rude, Honey Bee Inn, M/M, Mutual Pining, Reno’s Boobs, Trans Character, allusions to voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:20:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24653734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foodpoisoning/pseuds/foodpoisoning
Summary: Reno and Rude take a brief job at the Honey Bee Inn together and expect it not to get in the way.
Relationships: Reno/Rude (Compilation of FFVII)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 49





	undercover

**Author's Note:**

> poorly edited, please don’t tease me :) this was truly supposed to just be a fic thread on twitter and i got carried away

Rude’s instant quiet jealousy that springs up when Tseng asks Reno to go undercover at the Honey Bee Inn by himself. Reno’s main concern is that he might get recognized, to which Tseng counters, “You have the best knowledge of Wall Market.”

Reno scoffs. “Man, just say it louder. You know I grew up down there.”

Rude hates to see Reno’s annoyance at this sore spot, so he offers. “I’ll go.”

Tseng and Reno are both surprised to hear him say it, but Rude doesn’t make a big deal of it. 

“If Reno doesn’t want to, I’ll do it. Simple as that.”

And suddenly Reno is a little more forgiving. “Well, I mean, Tseng DOES have a point. I know the place.”

Rude and Reno stare at each other, wondering who’s challenging what, when Tseng sighs.

“Just go together.”

So they wind up taking jobs at the Inn to gather intel from wayward Shinra employees. Everything goes shockingly smooth, right up until the point where they need to actually commit to the bit and neither of them have said what it is they’re up for. 

“Alright, how do we do this?”

Agreeing they’d prefer not to be alone with anyone in the Inn, they wait to hear from a Honey Bee employee what the available options are. They run down the obvious choices: dancer, which neither of them are qualified for; solo companion, which could easily blow their cover; group rooms, which involves at least 3 employees and Rude and Reno both bristle at that for some unspoken reason. The last option they bring up is the voyeurs room. Something for shy patrons to do without getting ‘hands on’ and still chasing the thrill. Reno and Rude glance at each other. 

It’s definitely the safest option. 

The Honey Bee smiles. “Oh so you’re a matching set? No wonder you showed up together.”

Reno’s always the better actor and doesn’t miss a beat. “Yeah, we have a limited set of talents.”

The Bee smirks. “You’ll fit in perfectly.”

As if by design, the voyeur’s room is situated between two pricey solo suites, the perfect place for them to try and overhear anything useful. They’re given vague directions which amount to: there are lights that tell you when someone is watching. Green means keep it classy. Yellow means _have fun_.

The whole purpose of the room is to ‘give guests something to imagine’, hence the very strategic placement of the furniture (it looks like someone’s living room) and the places where guests can watch. They can’t see anything from the waist down in most spots. Reno jokes that this is the perfect time to learn how to dance. The Bee loves it.

So Reno and Rude decide to use their time in their new room to (clumsily) learn how to waltz. It’s the easiest thing to do to pass the time while waiting for someone of interest to come by. Rude asks Reno why he opted for the honey girl’s outfit. Reno says it’ll help him blend easier.

”Most of the Shinra guys who come here are more interested in imagining and a guy and a girl. The outfits fill in the gaps if they can’t see my junk.”

“You’d look good in both outfits,” Rude tells him.

Reno grins. “Oh are we already playing the part?”

“We’re working right now aren’t we?” Rude asks.

With a green light on, they remember to keep swaying. 

“If you’re trying to make me blush, you’ll have to work a little harder,” Reno whispers. 

Rude looks on the edge of a smile. “You’re right, my bad.”

Sliding his hand down just shy of Reno’s ass, he asks much too quiet for a guest to hear, “Think they can see that?”

It becomes very easy to play at this, especially when they can’t even see who’s looking. Like each light is just a dare to try something new. Toward the end of their first shift they get a yellow light and they both realize they should have talked about this sooner. 

Reno hisses, ”Do something.”

Startled, Rude’s hand jumps up from Reno’s waist, sliding along his flank. He’s watching Reno so intently and in the back of Reno’s mind he knows it’s to make sure Reno isn’t uncomfortable, but the _front_ of Reno’s mind is a little more static and lust. A soft breath as Rude’s fingers very cautiously graze the chest of his uniform and even though it’s a pushup bra underneath layers of fabric, Reno’s skin reacts as if Rude’s feeling him up without any that. Ripples down his whole torso.

“Are you blushing yet?” Rude asks quietly and Reno slides his hands around Rude’s face. 

“You’ll be embarrassed before me,” Reno says, pulling Rude closer.

It’s definitely a challenge and so is the way Rude kisses Reno with his hand cupped to Reno’s breast. Reno meets him to get a better taste and neither of them are listening for guests anymore, but really they were never doing a great job.

And it doesn’t end after their shift, either. When the light blinks off and they get a knock on the door for a change of shift, they leap apart and Reno starts laughing from the high of it. 

The girl who comes in gives them a fond smile. “Always cute to see a couple being so comfortable with each other.”

Word spreads fast and soon everyone who works at the Inn knows they’re a “couple”. The next time they show up for work, everyone treats them like the _matched set_ they claim to be. And it’s all so easy to fall into. Lots of remarks at Rude to the tune of, _no wonder you didn’t want to share_. Which starts prompting Rude to put his hand on Reno’s waist in lieu of answering, and Reno’s not _displeased_ by it. Smirking whenever he feels that possessive gesture and telling whoever said it how _Rude’s always like that. Nothing personal_.

In the room, it’s a game. Either green or yellow lights, they’re pushing at each other and leaping at the chance to prove how dedicated they are to their mission while simultaneously getting too swept up in their cover to get any good information. The contact and the closeness and the flirting and sweet talking never seem to feel rote, though— the part of the job that matters the least. By the end of a week, they know more about each other than any Shinra person but they can’t exactly write up a report on learning how to waltz or how Rude seems to favor biting Reno’s lips when they get a little more forgetful. 

Finally, as they’re getting ready for another shift, they hear the whispers carried down the chain of command that a Shinra man is back to blow off steam. They quickly confirm that whoever it is will definitely be spending a long night in one of the rooms that borders _theirs_ , and it’s finally time for them to actually do some real work. But that doesn’t stop the usual thrill of anticipation they get at sliding on those disguises. 

They have a brief moment alone, determining which wall is the shared one before a green light has them dancing. They both drift toward the sounds of people talking in the room beside theirs, the muffled familiar lilt of a very talkative exec. 

“Can you hear?” Rude asks.

“Not yet,” Reno whispers back.

So Rude picks Reno up by the hips and sets him down on the sideboard against the wall they’re trying to listen through. 

Rude leans his hands on either side of Reno’s thighs. “Better?”

Reno turns his head a little, listening closer. “Yeah.” 

He _can_ hear words now struggling through the wall. 

“I’ll listen,” Reno says. “You act.”

Rude tells him to close his eyes and Reno’s sure it’s so he can hear better but it also makes it even harder to ignore Rude’s hands. Reno leans against the wall but the second he feels fingertips on his face, his attention splits. They’re talking in the other room, loudly, more than likely drunk, but Reno is grounded in his own room by the way Rude is tracing his face. 

This is far more _soft_ than how they usually play it. Rude knows he’s taking a risk but something about Reno’s closed eyes brings something out in him. He figures he can get away with this while the light is green, just touching Reno’s outlines. As he combs through Reno’s hair, Reno tilts his head and it almost looks like he’s enjoying the attention. Rude brushes his thumb over Reno’s lips and the light shuts off as Reno opens his mouth. 

It all seems like a dream and that might be why it’s so easy for Rude to keep doing it, despite how distant it feels when they’re not here. Kissing Reno right then is a little _too_ real, though. Reno magnetizes to Rude and neither of them are thinking about how to do this for an audience. No care at all whether anyone else is watching. Some switch is flipped and Rude smooths his hands over every part of Reno he can reach. 

Reno just holds Rude’s face to his so he can keep Rude’s tongue in his mouth. He’s been lying to himself about how much he likes this, but this is definitely different. This is breaking some kind of rule— hiking his legs up Rude’s sides to get him closer. He sighs when he feels that Rude is hard and nothing of either kind of _work_ remains. When Rude breaks their kiss, Reno’s looking at him entirely too honestly. Not thinking about anything but more of this. 

Rude slides his hands down Reno’s chest, gripping the fabric at Reno’s waist and tugging at it just enough to expose the strapless bra underneath. Reno’s gaze is sharp as a knife and Rude never thought he’d be in a place where he could confidently say _the good kind of knife_. Pulling the edge of the bra down, pushing Reno’s tits up, watching him take a deep breath like he _wants_ Rude to stare. 

Touching with both hands, watching Reno just _enjoy_ the sensation. Reno’s joked disparagingly before about the small size of his chest, and Rude never bothered to tell him that this is exactly what he likes. Just enough swell to fit his palm to, feel the way Reno’s skin prickles with goosebumps. Reno’s gaze pierces right through Rude and there is far too much expectation for this small room or the length of their shift and that’s when reality comes screaming back. Rude definitely needs to get his fingers off Reno’s nipples and get his head out of his ass. 

Glancing up at the light— off for now— Rude lets his breath out. He starts fixing Reno’s clothes in a hurry.

“Did you hear anything?”

Reno’s gaze clears up from that fog and he finishes righting the front of the strapless dress. 

“Watch the light,” Reno says and turns to press his ear to the wall.

They’re smarter about the rest of the shift, passing it by a little more in sync on who’s watching the light and who’s listening to the room next door. They go back to dancing. 

As soon as they’re outside of Wall Market for the night, they get in contact with Tseng. They’re taking a train back up to the plate and Reno is recounting everything he heard rapid fire to Tseng who is undoubtedly transcribing it into text as Reno speaks. Rude doesn’t interrupt once, but he _does_ notice when they get to Reno’s stop and the guy doesn’t budge from his seat. Rude points at the open doors, brow raised. 

Reno stares right at him, listening to whatever Tseng is saying on the other end, and mouths _I need to come._

Rude looks up and away, the doors slide shut, and he puts his hand on Reno’s knee.

He started this. He should probably finish it.

Reno leans over to whisper, “Thank you.” Finishing with a kiss on Rude’s cheek.

Definitely worth finishing. 

**Author's Note:**

> @foodpoisoned if you’re chill and ship friendly


End file.
